< Back Sydney Daniels Sydney Daniels Mistawasis Nêhiyawak Induction Category: Year Inducted Athlete 2024 Sydney Daniels is a proud member of Mistawasis Nêhiyawak First Nation on Treaty 6 Territory. Daniels completed a four-year NCAA Division 1 ice hockey career at Harvard University where she obtained many accolades including ECAC Hockey All-Academic selection, Multiple ECAC Player of the Month, All-ECAC Hockey Team, All-Ivy League Team. Most importantly, Sydney was selected to captain the team her senior year. Daniels has also participated in multiple tournaments as a member of Team USA bringing home both a silver and gold medal in the IIHF World Championships at both the U-18 and U-22 levels. After her collegiate career, Daniels was drafted third overall in the NWHL to the New York Riveters. She played her first professional ice hockey season with the Boston Pride of NWHL. Daniels spent four seasons as an NCAA Division 1 Assistant Coach for Harvard University from 2018-2022. As a coach, she helped the team in winning the Ivy League, the ECAC regular season, and the Beanpot Championship. Most recently, Daniels was hired by the Winnipeg Jets as a member of the NHL scouting staff, with a specific focus on recruiting within the NCAA. She is the first female from Treaty 6 Territory to be an operations staff member of an NHL team. Daniels is passionate about finding ways to use her experiences to uplift Indigenous Youth. For the past six years, Daniels and her father, Scott Daniels, also a 2024 NAIAHF inductee and former NHL player, run the Daniels Hockey School, a multi-day youth hockey camp for Indigenous youth. Daniels Hockey focuses on creating safe and inclusive spaces for Indigenous Youth to feel safe, have fun, and develop their hockey skills. She hopes to continue to find ways to support and empower Indigenous youth to chase their dreams. <Back

< Back Sharon and Shirley Firth Sharon and Shirley Firth Gwich’in First Nation Induction Category: Year Inducted Athlete 2024 Twin sisters Sharon and Shirley Firth were members of Canada’s national cross-country team for an unprecedented 17-consecutive years competing on the World Cup circuit. Between them, they won 79 medals at a variety of racing distances at the national championships and competed in four winter Olympic Games in 1972 at Sapporo, Japan, in 1976 at Innsbruck, Austria, in 1980 at Lake Placid, New York, USA, and in 1984 at Sarajevo, Yugoslavia. She and her sister were the subjects of a CBC Documentary entitled The Olympians: The Firth Sisters. Shirley and Sharon were in the PBS TV Episode 2010 Series of Molly of Denali “Stand Back Up.” They were also on a Canada Postage Stamp: Canadian Women in Winter Sports 2018. Sharon Firth had been awarded the John Semmelink Memorial Award from the Canadian Ski Association in 1972, the Commissioner’s Award from the Government of the Northwest Territories in1981, the Order of Canada in1987, was inducted into the Canadian Ski Museum and Skiing Hall of Fame in 1990, and she received the Queen’s Golden Jubilee Medal in 2002. Sharon also received the 2005 National Aboriginal Achievement Award, inducted into the 2008 Banff Sport Hall of Fame, and received the Queen’s Silver Jubilee Medal in 2012. In addition to hall of fame inductions, she was also named to the 2012 Northwest Territories Sports Hall of Fame and 2015 Canadian Sports Hall of Fame, Order of Sport. In 2017 Sharon received an honorary doctorate of law degree and was an adjunct professor in 2018. She also received the 2018 Order of Northwest Territories. Shirley was voted Canadian Women's Nordic Skier of the Year six times by Ski Racing Magazine, and was inducted into the Canadian Ski Museum and Skiing Hall of Fame in 1990. After marrying, Shirley lived in Europe for over 20 years, receiving a teaching diploma in 2002 from the University of Paris. She won 42 Canadian national championship medals including 29 gold, 10 silver and 3 bronze. Shirley died on April 30, 2013. <Back

< Back Carl “The Anishinaabe Kid” Deaton III Carl “The Anishinaabe Kid” Deaton III The Sault Tribe Induction Category: Year Inducted Athlete 2026 From Mount Pleasant, MI, Carl’s journey started when he stepped onto a wrestling scale for the first time at 200 lbs. as a sophomore in high school. He found success early in wrestling at 145lbs, competing in Michigan’s HS State Wrestling Tournament. Carl also competing professionally at 135lbs, 145lbs, 155lbs, and 170lbs. Carl has since gone on to being at the pinnacle of professional combat sports. He has carried the tribal flag representing his Sault Tribe’s culture and name into his bouts all over the world. Before Carl turned professional, he would accumulate an amateur record of 14-1 with three amateur titles. Carl was also selected to try out in FL for late boxing legend Howard Davis's promotion of that time where he would turn down the tournament offer after securing his spot to turn professional. On September 3, 2011, Carl would secure his debut win with a first-round finish at 3:34. Carl has won three professional world titles in different fight organizations and has a professional record of 17-7 in MMA. Carl was one of the top 20 145lbs fighters in the world outside of the UFC before getting signed upon 7-day notice. “The Anishinaabe Kid” is also a professional boxer and has competed in professional No-Gi bouts, while being trained and coached by some of the absolute best. Bruce Buffer announced to the world on UFC fight night 135 in Las Vegas NV, “THE ANISHINAABE KID CD3”! Having been in the PFL, UFC, Carl remains close to the fight game with his published book “60/40 the perfect stance for MMA”. Carl has since graduated from college with a degree concentrating on Tribal Law and Policy. He still loves to train and has also created a platform on social media called CD3Sports, to inspire and acknowledge sports and entertainment. Carl is in production on his documentary called “Fighting Chance,” sharing Carl’s MMA Journey. <Back

< Back James Nells James Nells Navajo Induction Category: Year Inducted Athlete 2023 James Nells, born in Winslow, Arizona is full blood Navajo Nation tribal member. His mother was Dorothea (Jackson) Shirley, father was Edward Nells. He is Salt clan, born for under his cover clan, grandparents are Black streak in the wood (mother) and Red bottom (father). James has three sisters living on the Navajo reservation including Brenda, Sandra and Dixie. They grew up around the Cedar Springs, Seba Dalkai, White Cone area of Arizona. They finally moved to Church Rock, New Mexico and James attended Church Rock Elementary, Bountiful Junior High and South Bountiful Jr. High in Bountiful, Utah. He attended and graduated from Wingate High School, Fort Wingate, New Mexico in 1977. James attended Haskell Indian Junior College (1978-80), Lawrence, Kansas, and graduated from Central State University (1980-83), Edmond, Oklahoma with a Bachelor degree in Teaching Physical Education and Health with a coaching option. He participated in Cross Country, Wrestling and Track. In college he ran both cross country and track. He is a state high school champion in the two-mile run (1976) and state runner-up in cross country, track mile and two mile run several times. He is also a High School All-American in Track. In college he was a two time All-American in Indoor Track and held the cross country course record while attending Haskell in 24:47 for 8K. James served in the US Army from 1984-92, was second in command in his unit while in Desert Storm with the 2-16 Infantry Rangers, Fort Riley, KS and received a Bronze Star. James and his wife Daisy Elana (Pratt) Nells have been married 38 years and they have two daughters and five sons and 13 grandkids. Photo: James and Elana Nells in 2022 <Back

< Back Analyss Benally Analyss Benally Navajo Induction Category: Year Inducted Athlete 2025 Analyss Benally was born and raised on the Navajo reservation in Shiprock, New Mexico. She is an enrolled member of the Navajo Nation. Her parents are Brian and Vikki Benally. She has one sibling, Patience Benally. Benally attended Wichita Heights High School in Wichita, Kansas. During her time at Wichita Heights HS, she was a four-year varsity player and scored over 1,000 points in her high school career. Analyss was named three-time Wichita Eagle All-City League, three-time Wichita Eagle All-Class 5A, Sports in Kansas Class 5A Honoree and 2016 Navajo Times All-Star. When it came time to choose a college Analyss chose NCAA Division I San Jose State University (SJSU). At SJSU she became one of the top three point shooters in the Mountain West Conference. She set the SJSU sophomore three point field goals made in a season record. She scored a career high 31 points against San Diego State University. Despite missing numerous games due to injuries in her freshman and senior years, she finished in the top ten in school history with three point field goals made, three point field goal percentage, and three point field goal attempts. Analyss graduated from San Jose State University in 2021. Analyss played professionally in Europe since 2021. Her rookie year team was in Romania with CSM Alexandria. She moved the following year to play in Albania with Flamurtari winning the Albanian-Kosovo Liga United Cup, Albanian Super Cup, Albanian Cup, and was Albanian League Champions. She was named Eurobasket.com All-Albanian League and Eurobasket.com All-Liga Unike for the season. Her next team was Bashkimi in Kosovo. She went on to win the Kosovo Cup, Albanian-Kosovo Liga United Cup. Her team were Kosovo League Regular Season Champions, Kosovo League Champions, Liga Unike Regular Season Champions. During the off season, Analyss resides in New Mexico where she hosts free basketball camps and participates in speaking engagements to tell her story in hopes of inspiring, encouraging and uplifting native youth to never stop working toward their dreams. Additionally, Analyss made her acting debut in the 2024 Netflix movie Rez Ball directed by Sydney Freeland and produced by LeBron James. <Back

< Back Gaylord Powless Gaylord Powless Mohawk, Wolf Clan Induction Category: Year Inducted Athlete 2024 Gaylord Powless was a Mohawk lacrosse player from the Six Nations of the Grand River First Nations Reserve, Ontario, Canada where he was the eldest of 14 children born to Ross and Wilma Powless. Powless received his first lacrosse stick at age two and by age 17, he won the Tom Longboat Award as the best Indigenous athlete in Canada. In 1964, Gaylord was recruited by the Oshawa Green Gaels junior lacrosse team, by coach Jim Bishop to which he led to four consecutive Minto Cups from 1964 to 1967 and was chosen as the most valuable player in the series in 1964 and 1967. Powless turned professional in 1968 and, in 1969, played for the Rochester Chiefs, winning the Can-Am Lacrosse League title. He went on to a successful career in professional and senior amateur lacrosse with teams in Detroit, Syracuse, New York, Montreal, Brantford, Port Coquitlam, and Brampton as well as with the Six Nations team. Powless was also a star player for the Detroit Olympics of the National Lacrosse Association. He scored 63 goals in the 1968 season, twice as many as his nearest competition. He knew where everyone was at all times on the field of play, was an unselfish player, and an outstanding playmaker. Powless's career was cut short by injuries and in 1977, he retired at the age of 30. He had to withstand tremendous racism from coaches, players, fans, and sports writers. His reaction was to recognize that he was a target for bullying and abuse and to overcome it by being the best player, and the highest scoring athlete he could be. Sadly, Powless lost his battle with cancer on July 28, 2001, but his influence as a role model and inspiration to generations of Indigenous youth carries on. He left behind his wife Patti, daughters Michelle and Gaylene, and son Christopher (deceased 2015) who he coached in lacrosse to his Jr. career. His grandchildren Taylor, David, Kahner, Rachel and Kali continue his legacy through their love of sports, they would have been his greatest accomplishment. <Back

< Back Paul Chartrand Paul Chartrand Metis Induction Category: Year Inducted Athlete/Official/Team 2024 Paul Chartrand began to play baseball and amateur senior hockey after high school. In 1974 after a decade of teaching he moved to Queensland, Australia. After playing ice hockey at the ToomBul hockey rink near the Brisbane Schools, he co-founded a new local team, the Moreton Bay Sharks. Being an ice hockey referee in Canada, he turned to officiating. In 1978, he was Referee for the Goodall Cup national men's competition. In 1981 he was appointed national Referee-In-Chief in the NIHL although the league ended in its second season. When he first arrived in Brisbane in September of 1974 he was coming off a 6-2 pitching record for the neighboring provincial Calgary Giants. The right-hander played for championship teams including provincial teams in national competitions, including the first Canada Summer Games in 1969. In his first season in 1974-75 playing for the local Athletics team in the Brisbane Major Baseball League, he had a 15-3 record with a 1.51 ERA. He later pitched for the Queensland State Team and the Australian National Team during the 1974-82 seasons. He led Queensland with two wins in a Tri-State series in 1974 at Sydney. He also pitched a record 20-strikeout no-hitter on October 21, 1979 against the Ipswich Musketeers. Named to two Australian national teams in ice hockey and baseball, Chartrand returned to Canada to teach and practice law in 1982. He continued to compete in both sports, winning a national bronze medal with the Saskatoon Liners in 1983 and later retiring at 49 years of age. In ice hockey, he played four seasons with the Sagkeeng Old-Timers team, competing successfully in national and in Old-Timers World Cup competitions in Nice, Munich, Paris and elsewhere. Following his return to Canada in 1982, he pursued an academic career focused on the law and policy of states respecting indigenous people. He completed a Master of Laws degree at the University of Saskatchewan and took on university appointments in Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the United States. Author of over fifty publications, he served on several high-profile public bodies, including Canada's Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples, Manitoba's Aboriginal Justice Implementation Commission, and the Aboriginal Healing Foundation. <Back

Matt Roberson Wichita/Keechi Induction Category: Year Inducted Builder 2023 <Back Matt Roberson is the Executive Director for the Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe Department of Athletic Regulation. Matt also serves as the Executive Officer and Region 6 Director for the North American Indigenous Games Council, as well as, serving as a Management Representative for Quivera Enterprises, Wichita Tribal Enterprises, Wichita Government Solutions and Iscani Industries. Matt is an enrolled member of the Wichita and Affiliated Tribes (Keechi) and is originally from Anadarko, Oklahoma. Previously, Matt was elected to the Wichita and Affiliated Tribes Executive Committee and served as Southern Plains Regional Vice-President Alternate for the National Congress of American Indians. Matt was elected to two terms as President of The Association of Combative Sports Commissions. While under his leadership, The Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe Department of Athletic Regulation was recognized as the 2017 Organization of The Year by the Minnesota Boxing Hall of Fame. The Department of Athletic Regulation, also organized and hosted the First Annual “Meeting of The Clans” an All-Indigenous Amateur Boxing World Championship in 2022. In 2017, Matt received The National Center for American Indian Enterprise Development’s prestigious “40 under 40 Award." In 2018, Matt was selected as an American Express NGEN Fellow and in 2022 completed Converge Social Justice Leadership fellowship through the American Express Leadership Academy.

< Back Kalley Armstrong Kalley Armstrong Algonquin (Kitigan Zibi Anishinabeg) Induction Category: Year Inducted Athlete 2023 Kalley Armstrong is the granddaughter of Toronto Maple Leafs legend George Armstrong. Kalley played four years of NCAA Division 1 hockey with the Harvard University Women’s Hockey Team between 2010 and 2015. Kalley grew up idolizing the hockey careers of both her grandfather and her father. She played her junior hockey with the Toronto Aeros hockey club. In her final year as captain, the team won the Provincial Women’s Hockey League (PWHL) and the Ontario Women’s Hockey Association (OWHA) championships. She also competed that year at the National Women’s U18 Championships for Team Ontario. With the Harvard Crimson, Kalley was selected to the All-Ivy League Second Team and named the Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) Best Defensive Forward. In her senior year, she captained of one of the best teams in Harvard Women’s Hockey history. The Crimson captured the 2015 Ivy League Championship, the 2015 ECAC Season Championship, the 2015 ECAC Tournament Championship, and the 2015 Beanpot Championship. That year the team finished as the 2015 Frozen Four National Championship Runner-Up. In 2019, Kalley started her own hockey school, Armstrong Hockey, in honour of her grandfather’s legacy and accomplishments as a proud Indigenous athlete. Armstrong Hockey is dedicated to the development of Indigenous youth hockey and the mentorship of First Nations girls. Kalley is currently working on her PhD at Western University focussing on the experience of girls playing hockey in residential school. <Back

< Back Joey Christjohn Joey Christjohn Oneida Induction Category: Year Inducted Athlete 2024 Joey Christjohn is an Oneida tribal member in Wisconsin. He started his boxing career as an amateur with his first bout in 1974 in Fond du Lac, WI at the local YMCA. His last bout as a professional was against Carlos DeLeon in Milwaukee, WI in 1993. Christjohn had 92 amateur fights with a record of 68 wins and 24 losses. He was a three-time Wisconsin Golden Gloves Champion. Christjohn was also the 1980 National Indian Athletic Association light heavyweight champion and recorded a knockout in 27 seconds. His pro debut was on Halloween in 1985 and he had 41 bouts in his career winning 19, losing 19, and had 3 draws. His pro career took him throughout the country including Carson City, NV, Milwaukee, WI, and Chicago, IL as well as overseas in Poland and France. One of his notable fights was defeating Oliver McCall in 1985. McCall would eventually win the 1994 WBC heavyweight championship of the world. Christjohn’s sparring partners included Greg Powless, Leander Danforth Jr., Ron Melchert, Kelly Stevens, Ernie Stevens Jr., Tim Tomashek, and Dennis Danforth Sr. <Back

< Back Miguel Lara Miguel Lara Tarahumara Induction Category: Year Inducted Athlete 2024 Miguel Lara’s record as an ultramarathon runner is very impressive and has resulted in him winning recognition across the globe. He has finished first in more than 20 ultramarathons, including three times each at Ultramarathon Caballo Blanco Copper Canyon, Ultramaratón de las Canones and the Born to Run Series. He participated in the Boston Marathon in 2017, won the Ultra X Mexico in 2019. He won four races in 2016 including the Red Rock and Beyond 50 miles in 6:43.23, Wild Wild West Ultra 50k in 4:32.22, the Born to Run Ultra 60k in 8:13.06, and the Kodiak Ultra 100 miles in 19:58.00. Photo/Bio Credit: Ultra X <Back

Chamisa Goodwin Ojibwe Induction Category: Year Inducted Trainer 2025 <Back Chamisa Goodwin is a member of the White Earth Nation Ojibwe whose life journey reflected resilience, talent, and a strong connection to her cultural heritage. An exceptional athlete in high school, she competed with the regional Wings of the Great Lakes as a part of the Wings of America Youth Development Running Project in the USAT&F National Cross Country Running Championships for three consecutive years, showcasing remarkable endurance and determination. At Bemidji High School (MN), Chamisa earned the Most Valuable Player award in soccer and excelled in track, demonstrating her versatility and drive to succeed in multiple disciplines. Her early accomplishments set the stage for a groundbreaking career in professional sports. Following her passion for speed and precision, Chamisa pursued a career as a professional jockey. Over the years, she rode 99 winners, earning over $2 million for the horses she piloted. Her success on the track took her to some of the most prestigious venues in horse racing, including Pimlico Race Course, Oaklawn Park, and Tampa Bay Downs. Known for her courage, determination, and sharp instincts, Chamisa became a respected figure in the racing community, inspiring others— especially young Native Americans—to chase their dreams in sports and beyond. Today, Chamisa continues to make an impact, transitioning from the racetrack to her current role as an Extension Assistant at Leech Lake Tribal College. In this capacity, she works to support agricultural, environmental, and community development initiatives, fostering sustainability and cultural preservation within the tribal community. Her work reflects her commitment to empowering others and ensuring a strong future for her people. Chamisa's life story is one of perseverance, adaptability, and giving back. From excelling as a high school athlete to achieving remarkable milestones in professional horse racing, and now contributing to her community through education and extension work, she has consistently embraced challenges and opportunities. Chamisa serves as a role model, inspiring others to follow their passions, overcome obstacles, and remain deeply connected to their roots while pursuing their dreams.